Unknowling Someone for Eliot
by AguiD
Summary: Wondering why Eliot didn't have a romantic interest in the show led me to this. What if there was a reason he didn't have a 'someone' just yet? Maybe his 'someone' just hadn't been introduced to him. Not just anyone will do for Eliot after all. Eliot/OC.
1. Chapter 1

Authors Note:

This is my very first fanfiction story. EVER.

Basically I felt that Eliot needed someone. Nate and Sophie. Parker and Hardison. But what about Eliot? No love interest for him? so…. I invented one. However I am into scifi and I got this idea and couldn't help myself. It's not too SciFi, but it does have some special features. Completely unbeta. All mistakes are mine.

I don't own anything. Otherwise Eliot would be mine. Lol

I hope you like.

Chapter 1: We Need Someone New

"We take on clients as usual, but… now we pick out clients that can lead us to Moreau." Nate stated as he took another drink. The team seemed to be okay with this line of action but Sophie still wasn't convinced.

"And _how_ exactly will we be choosing these clients?" Sophie asked "That man is untouchable. You don't even know where to start looking…" Sophie was abruptly cut off with Nate's one word: "Charlie."

The look that Sophie gave Nate was one that the team would not soon forget. She looked at him as if he had just slapped her.

"Charlie…" Sophie slowly drawled "If you could even find…" once again she was interrupted by Nate. "Already did."

Ignoring the glare he was receiving from Sophie, Nate turned to Eliot, "Eliot, I'll pick you up round noon tomorrow. I want you to come along with me to get Charlie."

Sophie snorted, an unheard of thing for the fine lady "You mean you want Eliot for protection in case Charlie decides to beat you up. Again." with a huff Sophie got up from her chair gave Nate one last glare and exited with "Let the record stand I voted against this specific plan of Nate's."

As Nate left shortly after, the remaining three criminals looked at each other in silent contemplation. "Nate's being creepy again." Parker piped up looking at the two men.

"Yeah," Eliot agreed "Only difference is that so is Sophie now. I don't like this." With this typical scowl in place Eliot walked out of the room.

The next day Eliot sat in the passenger seat of Nate's BMW going… actually he had no clue where they were going. But Nate had that 'I need to concentrate or the con will go bad' look on his face, so Eliot thought it'd be best to just stay quiet. About 40 minutes later, Nate pulled into a shop chop.

"A shop chop?" Eliot asked with a hint of amazement. "I didn't even knew you knew where to find one of these." He finished with a small internal smile.

"You underestimate me Eliot. I know where to find a lot of things. Like Charlie for example." Nate replied cryptically.

Personally, Eliot didn't like all the secrecy around this Charlie guy. Especially if Nate had a history with him; a violent history if Sophie was to be believed. As they got out of the car and made their way to the office Eliot noticed all possible exits and usable weapons within reach. As Nate walked in to the office a loud "Nathan Ford. What are you doing here?" was heard. Looking around Eliot realized that the voice belonged to a man in his late 50s; a _very_ large man. Nate however didn't seem faze by him, he simply smiled at the man. "What can I do for you Ford? Not having problems with the Tesla now are we?" the large man continued speaking.

"No, no. cars' perfect. I'm here looking for Charlie." Nate replied just as calm and smooth as ever. _Ok_, thought Eliot, _so this man isn't Charlie_. At the mention of 'Charlie' though the humoring smile that had grazed the large man's face evaporated.

"What business do you have with Charlie?" the large man asked.

"No business. At least not yet. Just thought we could go and have lunch together. Catch up. It's been a while." Nate stated, still unfazed by the man or his change in demeanor.

The large man simply 'hmf' and went over to a microphone and clicked over a switch.

"Charlie," the man said and his voice echoed through a loud speaker "you got some company up front. Says he wants to take you to lunch." The man finished with a satirical tone.

Nodding his thanks at the large man Nate walked over to the waiting area and took a seat.

"You want to tell me what all that was about?" Eliot asked Nate. "Not really no." was Nate's simple reply. A back door opened and closed somewhere and then muffled voices were heard in the room that the large man had gone back into. And then silence. A few minutes later the door opened again. Nate got up and Eliot directed his eyes at the now open door and simply stared.

A petit, very petit, red head was walking towards them. Framed with a small smile, long red hair cascading down her back in thick curls and dressed in a short, strapless, green dress that accentuated every asset she had, she swayed her way in her cowboy boots over to the waiting men.

"Nathan Ford." She smiled at Nate "I hear you I'm being treated to lunch today." She said. She had a unique accent, Eliot noted, somewhere between a sultry southern drawl and upscale European. Strange combination, but somehow it worked for her.

"Charlie. It's lovely to see you again." Nate said as he leaned forward and placed a kiss to her cheek. At Nate's confirmation Eliot almost laughed out loud. _This was Charlie!_ Eliot thought. _She is what Nate wanted protection from? _"Eliot" Nate turned to him "this is Charlie Marlow" Nate introduced "Charlie this is Eliot Spencer."

AN:

Please review. Need to know what you guys think. Have a general idea of where this is going but ideas are always welcomed. Thank you! =)


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Ok guys. Here is the second part. .Dum (that's me being all dramatic) we find out more about the mysterious Charlie.**

**Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! To **_**Truth and Chaos**_** who is being so amazingly nice to beta for me.**

Chapter 2 – Coming out of Shock

Eliot simply stared at the woman in front of him, giving her an appreciative look up and down. She had poise. He had to give her that. Eliot wasn't what you would call a tall man, he was of average height. This never fazed him since he had other qualities of intimidation. This woman, with her booted heels barely reached his nose. _Can't be more than 5' 1" _he thought_. _But she carried herself with a poise and confidence that could rival Sophie's.

Her hair reminded him of a burning flames; shades of warm red, flowing orange and burnt gold banded together seamlessly to make up her hair. It wasn't until she looked straight up at him and held out her hand in greeting that Eliot was able to get a good look at her eyes. Grey; a strange, rare, color to come by. As he held out his own hand in greeting he realized what they reminded him of. A few years ago he was caught in the middle of a hurricane while on a job in Florida._Right before the hurricane started/began, the sky went calm. A shad of cool grey encompassed it. There were no clouds in the sky. It was quiet. Eerie. Then, right as it was about to start pouring, when the storm was so close he could actually see the storm moving. The sky came alive with every shade of grey working, fighting for dominance._That was what he saw in her eyes. A storm waiting to happen. Her eyes held a promise of problem to come and that didn't sit too well with him.

When their hands touched he felt a jolt. Eliot was not the type of man to go around spouting poetry or doling out romantic notions. He literally felt a jolt of electricity when their hands clasped. She must have felt it too for she yanked her hand away as if burned by his touch and gave him a puzzled look. She looked at him like she was trying to see through and into him and when she found she couldn't she seemed upset. Eliot had had enough.

"Okay, Nate. Start talking." He said to the man who had dragged him here. He'd behaved himself up to now. Didn't ask questions, had given Nate the benefit of the doubt. Enough was enough. "Woman's four feet tall and probably couldn't reach the top of the kitchen cabinet without a chair. What are you so paranoid about?" Eliot finished with a growl.

"Maybe we should go somewhere else." Nate started to speak and tried to usher Eliot who was slowly starting to growl at him, towards the door. Eliot just stood his ground, crossed his arms _over his chest and glared steadfastly at Nate.__._

"Nate," Charlie said sweetly, bringing the attention back to her, "I do believe you said something about lunch. I think we should get going before the protection you brought for yourself ends up being the one who punches you." She told the older man with a small smirk, "Let me get my bag and I will be right out."

As she made her way back to the door she had originally come from Eliot tried to keep the imposing glare he had on Nate but was sadly distracted by the gentle sway of her graceful hips. As soon as she disappeared through the door though, Eliot turned on Nate.

"What the hell, Nate? Who is she?" Eliot growled to Nate.

Nate simply smiled at Eliot. He hadn't missed the appreciative looks that Eliot had been giving the petite red head. This could turn out rather interesting after all. "She is our way to get to Moreau with all of our body parts intact." Nate whispered back in a hush tone as Charlie sashayed gracefully back to the men.

"Ready boys?" she knowingly smiled at them.

Nate led the way to his car and held the front passenger door open for Charlie.

"BMW Alpina B7 model." Charlie commented as she got into the car, looking around the interior, "2011 model. Nice touch Nate. But black is such a generic color."

Once they were settled into the car and away from the chop shop. Charlie turned to face Nate. The teasing smile she had worn inside the shop was gone and now there was a start of what could be called a scowl on her face.

"Who is he Nate?" she said in a pointedly annoyed tone glancing back and indicating she meant Eliot.

"What? You don't already know." Nate looked over at Charlie, confusion written across his face.

"If I knew I wouldn't be wasting time asking." She retorted to Nate in that same annoyed tone.

"He's a Retrieval Specialist. An associate of mine. We have this company you see…" he was interrupted by her sudden snarl of anger.

"Retrieval Specialist? You mean he's a _thief_." The woman scowled at him darkly, "I don't deal with thieves and criminals, Nate. You _know_ that. All they bring is trouble." She huffed at him, a flush of warmth creeping up her face as she spoke, "Trouble I have been pretty good at avoiding so far."

Eliot was enjoying the show too much to interject. She just kept ranting at Nate waving her hands animatedly. When they reached the restaurant, Nate simply looked at her.

"Charlie, would you just hear me out?" Nate told her coolly "All you have to do is listen. If you don't like the offer at least you'll get a meal out of it."

"Fine." She snapped, getting out of the car and sounding like a petulant child.

Eliot just smirked and shook his head at Nate. "Are you sure you want her on the team?" he asked Nate once he was sure the fuming red head couldn't hear him.

Nate made his way around the car to Eliot's side and very seriously told him the truth. "Yeah, Eliot. There's no better Reader in the world than her."

"Reader!" Eliot all but yelled.

Nate just sighed, "Eliot let's try not to alert the entire city of this. She doesn't exactly advertise it."

_"__Nate!" Eliot glowered, attempting to calm his newly bristled nerves, _"You don't mess with readers. They read your mind! Get in your head and screw you over and everybody and I mean _everybody_ knows you _Do. Not. Work. With. Them__._ They are nothing but unreliable trouble makers!" calming down, it seemed didn't work too well for the Hitter.

Eliot had heard about Readers. The government wanted them, everyone else, that knew about them that is, steered clear of them. They took what they wanted and then found a million ways to screw you over. Why Nate thought adding a Reader to their team would be a good idea, Eliot had no clue. Nate had never seen his Hitter like this. He didn't like it.

"Where did you even find her in the first place?" Eliot spit out thinking Nate had just moved into a new category of 'creepy' like Parker liked to call him sometimes.

Nate contemplated answering this. The hitter was not happy right now and the mastermind in Nate wasn't sure if divulging more information would help calm him down or make him angrier. He decided a version of the truth would have to work for now. "Sophie. They've known each other for a long time."

He was leaving it at that and walked over to Charlie who was slowly tapping her foot impatiently by the entrance of the restaurant.


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: An awesome shout out to Truth and Chaos for being a super quick and great beta. And to all the people who were nice enough to review…. THANK YOU!**

Chapter 3 – Reader

Eliot didn't like the turn this situation had taken. Nate said they needed another team member, he never mentioned it would be a reader, much less a reader from Sophie's past. He had no option now, though, and simply followed Nate and the reader into the restaurant.

The hostess got them settled in table near the back of the establishment. Eliot took the chair against the wall giving him a full view of the rest of the place, leaving Nate the chair to his right and Charlie directly in front of Eliot. He noticed a couple that entered just after them, something was off about them, but he sensed no imminent danger from them. Keeping the couple in his line of sight he turned his attention to the reader. She was pretty, beautiful would be more accurate, but pretty would do for now. She was still slightly mad at Nate and the flush had yet to leave her face, making Eliot think about other places she was likely to blush. Especially if he… snapping back to cleaner thoughts he eyed the reader carefully, she was probably reading his mind this second. Charlie however, simply kept looking through her menu deciding what to eat. Eliot decided to follow suit and look at his own menu.

By the time the waiter came and took their order, Charlie having ordered champagne, an appetizer (calamari), main entre (the lobster and steak meal) and a desert to go (Crème Brule) Nate was wondering why he didn't take her to a different restaurant. Once the orders were made and the waiter was gone, it was time for business.

"Speak Nate. That was the agreement. You talk, I listen." Charlie said giving him her full attention.

Nate sighed and began telling her about the Italians. About Moreau.

He didn't get much farther when she interrupted him with a hiss, "Moreau? Are you insane Nate? He's untouchable. Do you want to die? There are more pleasant ways of committing suicide. Taking on the Russian's isn't what I would recommend."

"I wasn't given a choice in the matter Charlie. I have a team now. A team I would greatly hate to see end up dead in _mysterious_ ways." Nate said, stressing the operative word to emphasize his point. Charlie still wasn't convinced though so Nate made his next move, "I thought this would concern you, specifically, seeing how one of my team members is a mutual acquaintance of ours."

Charlie's eyes widened subtlety, "We have very few mutual acquaintances. We don't exactly run in the same circles Nate."

"Precisely my point Charlie." Nate told her, looking her straight in the eyes conveying the importance of his meaning.

Eliot noticed how she inhaled suddenly and her eyes got even wider than they had been.

"Sophie?" Charlie slowly asked, "She working with you now?" At Nate's almost imperceptible nod, Charlie simply commented, "How ironic of the two of you."

Charlie contemplated this for a few moments and then reached her hand across the table and over Nate's. "May I?" she asked.

"Of course." Nate told her, turning his hand over under her smaller one and clasping her hand tightly.

Eliot wasn't completely sure what was going on but kept a close watch on the reader, for any sudden movements. Instead of moving she went very still. As she stared at Nate, the hitter noticed that her eyes were no longer the stormy gray from earlier. They seemed to swirl together, like waves crashing in on a beach, blending together settling between a blue and green color, that reminded him of a Larimar stone he had retrieved from the Dominican Republic. They stayed that color for a while and then, as quick as they had changed color they were back to their original gray.

Charlie let go of Nate's hand, settling back in her chair with a troubled look. "Six months isn't a very long time. But, if that's what they gave you then that's what you got." Charlie spoke carefully as if contemplating everything around her, "I have conditions though. You ask me to do something I don't want to do and I don't do it. When I tell you something you don't doubt me on it, you simply accept it, like it or not. This won't work otherwise. Doubting me in the middle of a job could leave one of your team dead. And you get him," at this she pointed at Eliot, "to stop staring at me like that."

Nate simply nodded, "Okay. Eliot, stop staring at her." He told Eliot then turning back to Charlie, "That's all I can promise on his front, I'm not his keeper. But everything else you said we can work with." He finished with a small, contented smile just as the food was brought out.

As Nate picked up his fork and was about to dig into his food Eliot quietly growled, "Now can you tell me what all this is about?"

Nate looked up and saw the glare he was getting from the hitter. _Very well_, Nate thought. Looking over at Charlie he asked "Do you mind?" Charlie had already started eating and simply shook her head 'No' and kept on eating.

"Charlie was born a reader. Inherited through blood, therefore one of the few and strongest readers currently alive. She's never entered a government program, so she is still pure and reliable in ways other readers can never be." Nate paused and made sure that Eliot understood. Government programs were never a place you wanted to be, especially not when you had a power the government wanted to control for you. Eliot nodded and Nate continued, "I met Charlie in Europe when she was only 20 years old. She kept popping up here and there, coincidently at all the places I was following Sophie Devereaux to. Saw Sophie jump into a car once, driven away by Charlie; didn't catch up with Sophie again for another three months after that one. The next time I saw Charlie I realize she was not a thief. She was simply hanging around with the wrong crowd. I caught up to her once and told her I could help get her away from them. She just laughed at me and knocked me unconscious in an alley in Tuscany." Nate said with a small smile reminiscing the moment, being able to laugh now at the small young girl who had managed to escape him with a simple touch.

"I already apologized for that, Nate. Get over it, already." Charlie interjected between bites.

Nate just nodded his head and continued, "It wasn't until years later, that I met with Charlie again, this time as a model citizen. We became a friend of sorts after that. That was when I found out." Nate paused, "Sophie is her older sister."

"Half – sister, actually. Same dad, different mum. It's why I'm a reader and she isn't." Charlie added.

Eliot couldn't believe what he was hearing; he had more questions than answers but settled on one. "And that hand holding thing?"

"Nate let me read his thoughts. I asked for permission first. Skin to skin contact lets me form a deeper connection that helps direct me into the deeper thoughts he has, rather than just what I can pick up from the top of his mind. Which by the way Nate," she said with a look in Nate's direction, "I should probably be honest right up front. You have some very mistaken thoughts about Sophie."

"So, you can't read my mind unless you're touching me?" Eliot asked trying to get clarification.

Charlie had a momentary blank look then, "I can read mind's without touch. Skin to skin simply helps direct the process to one particular person and allows me to go in deeper. I can do the same without touch but it leaves me with a head ache afterwards. Too many different voices in my head," she said not meeting Eliot's eyes, but trying to make him feel better she continued, "I am very disciplined. I can block out the voices leaving just a low hum in the background, which I pay no mind to. This... control I have, other reader's can't manage that on their own. That's when they go into government programs."

Eliot began to understand. It gave him peace of mind that she could control her abilities. The hitter knew all too well some of the government programs she was talking about, and momentarily felt thankful that she hadn't ended up with the government. He gave her a last inquiring look. Eliot nodded to her before starting in on his already cold food.

A few minutes later Charlie excused herself and went to the ladies room.

"Are you okay, Eliot?" Nate asked the hitter.

Eliot looked up at the mastermind of this operation, "I'm still not too happy that you had to go look for a reader to join the team. She's Sophie's sister and all… I guess I'm just waiting to see what happens when the rest of the team meets her." If Charlie would be able to help the team, Eliot supposed he could work with her. He'd worked with Tara after all.

Nate's phone rang, the screen displaying a number he didn't recognize. He flipped it open, "Hello?" After a beat, "Charlie, what a surprise to hear from you." he said. Lowering his voice and catching Eliot's eye, he continued into the phone, "You were followed?"

That one questions had Eliot looking around the restaurant again. Going straight to the table of the couple who had made him suspicious earlier he noticed that the man was alone.

"Okay. Hold on just a second." Nate stated and then simply held the phone out to Eliot. Confused and irritated now Eliot yanked it from Nate's hand and growled into the receiver, "What the hell happened? And talk slowly."

"_Why_ didn't you tell me you were being followed?" She growled right back into her phone at him, irritated now by his tone. "This woman comes into the bathroom and her thoughts are all full of me. She was following me. I didn't really know what to do. I panicked and knocked her out. There is a guy out in the restaurant with her, and she's not exactly going to be waking up anytime soon!"

"What am_ I_ supposed to do?" he growled back.

"I don't know!" Charlie exclaimed on the other end of the line, "**You** are the hitter. What do **you** normally do after **you** knock people out?"

Eliot couldn't believe this. She had an unconscious woman in the bathroom and wanted _him_ to fix it. Another low growl and a deep breath later Eliot said into the phone, "The guy waiting for her outside. Black hair, blue shirt, gray sports jacket, sitting near the front of the restaurant?"

"Yeah. His name is Valencia. He's with the Italian people that _hired_ Nate. And... I think he's armed. Not sure though." Charlie finished hurriedly.

"Okay. Leave the woman locked in a stall and wait for us out in the car," he told Charlie, "And _try_ not to knock anybody else unconscious." A moment later the phone clicked off.

"We're being followed." Eliot told Nate with a vague nod at the man in questions, "Italians."

Nate figured that much, throwing some cash unto the table he got up and started to make his way towards the front of the restaurant, Eliot following along, "Let's have a chat with our chaperone then."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4 – Italians

Charlie hung up the phone with a muttered, "Insufferable man!" And started to drag the woman's body into the empty stall at the end of the restroom. Taking her phone and license, she locked the stall and made her way out the back of the restaurant, through the kitchens to the car. Efficiently breaking into the car and jump-starting it, she sat in the driver's seat waiting for the men.

Back inside the restaurant

Nate pulled up the seat directly in front on the Italian man, "Mister Valencia, right?" Extending his hand to the man, "Nathan Ford."

The man looked cautiously at Nate's hand and then over at Eliot standing, with arms crossed, glaring at him, and quickly shook the offered hand. "Mr. Ford. How did you know my name?" Valencia questioned.

"I have ways of knowing things." Nate replied, "What I don't know is why my friends and I are being followed."

Valencia looked around the room, not anticipating a meeting with Ford, "If you're waiting for your lady friend, she's not coming out anytime soon." Eliot sneered at the man.

"What did you do to her?" Valencia asked, worried.

"She's fine. Just taking a bit of a nap." Nate told him, still with a smile on his face, "Now, start talking before Eliot here looses the little patience he's managed."

"We are simply supposed to watch." Valencia stated, with an uneasy look at Eliot, "Just monitoring your movements to make sure that don't do something stupid that would anger my employer."

Nate looked at the man, "Eliot, outside please." Eliot smirked, grabbing the man by the collar and dragging him out the front of the restaurant. Taking a left to the side alley of the restaurant, Valencia reached into his coat for his gun, but Eliot was quicker. Disarming the man, popping the clip and emptying the chamber, the hitter threw the pieces of the gun aside, and grabbed Valencia by the arm. A short, painful twist later, Eliot quickly and efficiently had the man up against the wall.

"Now, Mr. Valencia," Nate began, "I accepted the assignment. I would appreciate it if my team and I were left alone to do our work without unwanted interruptions. Get that to your supervisor." Eliot gave the man a final push into the wall before letting him go and watching as the man sank to the ground and grabbed at his bruised arm.

"Your girlfriend's in the bathroom. Might want to get her before someone else finds her there." Eliot informed the fallen man before making his way toward Nate. He didn't take his eyes off the Italian until he rounded the corner of the restaurant. Turning his attention to the street, he noticed Charlie waiting in Nate's car by the entrance of the restaurant.

Nate and Eliot got in the car and Charlie drove away. The men looked over at the reader and before they could say anything she very quietly asks, "Which one of you got my dessert?" After a few seconds of silence, "Well? You did remember my dessert didn't you?" Charlie asked again, voice laced with irritation.

"We were a bit distracted, to remember your dessert." Nate slowly told her, while Eliot simply glared in disbelief at the petite red-head in the driver's seat.

"Distracted!" She complained, turning to face Nate in the passenger seat, "_I_ am the one who got followed into a bathroom. _I _am the one who had to leave a woman unconscious and sneak out of the back of the restaurant._ I_ am the one who…" she was interrupted by Eliot yelling.

"_**You**_ are the one driving without looking at the road! Nate," he said to the older man. "Make her pay attention! I ain't gonna die 'cause she isn't paying attention and crashed us into a pole." He finished with an exasperated growl.

Charlie just gave him a 'humph' and turned back to the road all the while muttering about a perfectly good dessert going to waste. A few minutes later they were back at her shop and Charlie was still angry. Without getting out of the car Charlie turned in her seat to Nate, "Will this be an everyday thing? Being followed around by Italians," she inquired of Nate. "I don't like having to incapacitate people."

"No, Charlie, it won't," Nate assured her, "We should be left alone to do our job for now."

Charlie nodded her head in acceptance and started to get out of the car. "Want to come up for coffee or something? I still have some free time if there's anything else you need to go over," she said to Nate as she made her way around the car to the awaiting men.

"Of course, I could use a drink." Nate said and started to follow her into the building.

"Wait a second there sweetheart," Eliot said, reaching out a hand to stop the retreating reader. When their skin touched, he felt that same electrical shock from earlier. They both quickly pulled away, "How did you do that," he asked her, trying to lie himself into believing he hadn't just willingly pulled away from an attractive female.

"Do what?" She asked.

Eliot had seen her reaction to his touch, earlier and now. He knew she'd felt it too. The quick intake of her breath, the slight widening of her eyes in surprise, but if she was going to ignore it, then so could he, so he settled with a more obvious question, "How'd you knock the woman out?"

She turned her face up to him, chin butting out, "I did _not_ knock her out. That implies that I hit her. I incapacitated her and as a result she will be unconscious for the next few hours. I do not _knock out_ people." She finished with a look of disgust at the mere implication that she would do that.

Eliot barked a laugh, "Incapacitated is just a fancy way of saying knocked out, darlin' Where'd you learn to do that?"

Charlie looked at him for another moment, turned her back to him and started to walking towards the building once more, forcing him to follow along. "I spent some time in Japan. Dated a guy who was a bit of a jerk. His brother taught me a few things."

"The brother taught you to do that?" Nate asked. He had yet to hear this story.

"Like I said, the guy I was dating was a jerk, his own brother knew it." She stated simply, like it was a known fact. As they went through the door she made a left and headed for a hallway and up the stairs to her flat. She went straight to the kitchen, while Nate went straight to the bar she had set up in the living space.

Eliot cautiously followed her into the kitchen. "What about the thing with the car," he questioned her. There were just too many things he didn't know about this woman, things he was surprised to realize he wanted to know.

Charlie thought about pretending not to know what he was talking about and simply not tell him anything else. This man who she had known less than four hours already knew more about her and her past than people she worked with everyday. And yet, there was just something about him that made her want to trust him with every secret and trick she knew.

"It's a calming technique." She told him, deciding to be honest, "Focus all your concentration on never stopping your car. You have to be alert to all the cars around you, the lights, the stop signs." As she spoke she looked into his eyes, something she'd been avoiding doing all day. "It helps that I can read what the other drivers are thinking and know all the back roads. The car never comes to a complete stop, we get here quicker, I calm down... It centers me." Charlie finished with a little shrug and opened the bottle of water she'd gotten out of the fridge.

When she locked eyes with him, Eliot found himself rooted to the spot his spot. The slow, gentle way she spoke, with just the softest hint of a sultry drawl, reminded him of time spent on his sister's porch, rocking back and forth watching the sun set, the few times he'd held his nephew in his arms. Memories he locked away and saved for the rare times when he needed some reminder of the good still left in this world. This woman with her gray eyes and a gentle tilt of her head had managed to unlock all those memories. Without even trying she impressed him, intrigued him and fascinated him to degrees that Eliot didn't want to ponder on for the sake of his sanity. Glancing away from her he walked out to the living room to see what Nate wanted to do next.


	5. Chapter 5

**AN:**

**Thank you to my beta (t&c your awesome!)**

**Thank you to all who have reviewed or alerted or favorited my story. It makes me so happy when I get the notice of it! =)**

**Hope you like it! (FYI: I've been listening to A LOT of Christian Kane… and loving it! So you never know when something will be inspired by a song of his. lol)**

Chapter 5 – "I have a life!" 

When Eliot left the kitchen to join Nate in the living room, Charlie took the opportunity to gather herself. She had felt the jolt when Eliot had grabbed her arm outside. She had felt the same jolt earlier when he shook her hand. Now, she was talking to the man as if they'd known each other for a lifetime. He was a hitter, violent by nature, yet when she'd found the courage to meet his eyes she lost a part of herself to him. The soft look his eyes took on as she spoke wasn't what she was expecting. The way they seemed to gloss over as if lost in memories, memories he was sharing with her. The intensity of the moment scared her. Never before had Charlie come into contact with someone who had this effect on her. She wasn't completely sure what it was, and as much as every instinct in her told her run away, tell Nate she couldn't join his team, she knew that she wasn't going anywhere. With a final deep breath, Charlie cleared her mind and went out into the living room. 

"Charlie," Nate said, stepping away from her built in bar, "how long do you need to pack?" 

Charlie furrowed her brow in confusion, "Pack? For what?" 

"Well, it's not like you can stay here," Nate explained, "I need you to be in the city. That way we can meet with clients. That's where our home base is at and…" Nate was interrupted by Charlie banging her bottled water into a table nearby.

"You expect me to just pack a bag and head out to take down the bad guys?" Charlie finished with a sarcastic little punch of her hands.

"Well… that was what I came here for, Charlie," Nate stated taking a drink from the glass in his hands. "And you did agree to come join my team." 

Charlie looked at Nate then over at Eliot who was idly leaning against the windowsill, then back at Nate. "I have a life!" She snapped at Nate, "you cannot seriously expect me to just pack up and leave. There are things I have to settle before I can join your Robin Hood Team." 

"Okay. I understand," Nate said, he could be reasonable. "You have a business. You need to get your affairs in order. That will take what?" he gestured out with the hand holding the glass, "a few hours? We can hang around until then. I'm sure Eliot would love a tour of the place." 

"The business can take care of itself, Nate. I have some… personal things that will take more than a few hours to deal with." Charlie told him through clenched teeth.

Nate strolled back towards the bar for a refill unruffled by Charlie's tone.

"What?…You got a hot date, or something?" Eliot interjected.

Charlie felt the blush creep up her cheeks and glanced in Eliot's direction. "Not a date exactly," Charlie stated, still talking to Nate. "More of an event I can't miss." 

Nate turned to face Charlie again and took in her flushed cheeks and the fact that her eyes darted all around the room not settling on anything in particular. The mastermind decided to test an idea playing around in his head. "An event? That's great." Nate told Charlie with forced excitement, "Girl's usually need dates to events, don't they? And after today's encounter with the Italians I'd feel more comfortable knowing you're safe. Eliot can be your escort." 

"Her what?" Eliot hollered at the same time Charlie screeched, "No!" Looking at each other they quickly turned their attention to Nate, "You can't do that." They stated in unison.

"Of course I can," Nate said with a grin on his face, "Charlie needs to tie up some loose ends before she can leave. She also needs to be kept safe, in case there are more Italians around. That's what you do Eliot; you keep our team safe." 

"Yes, _when_ they are in trouble, which she ain't. I don't babysit." Eliot complained to Nate.

"I don't _need_ to be babysat," Charlie whined, "Just tell me where to be and I'll be there tomorrow." 

"We were followed by bad people today," Nate told Charlie as if talking to a child, "you took out one of their people. They're probably not happy with you right now, and I'm about 90% sure that whatever 'event' you have going on tonight isn't very legal," at this he gave her a pointed stare, "Eliot _will_ be going with you." 

At Nate's not legal comment, Eliot moved closer to the other two, allured now about what the enigmatic red-head had planned for that evening. Making his decision he asked Charlie, "What exactly is this event we're goin' to tonight, sweetheart?" 

Charlie was mad. Nate was right, the Italians probably weren't too happy with her right now, and having a hitter around might prove to be beneficial in case anything went wrong tonight. After an overdramatic sigh, worthy of one of Sophie's plays, she settled on the couch. "It's a race." She told them. Eliot's eyes lit up up at those words.

"What kind of race?" asked Nate.

Eliot threw Nate an incredulous look while Charlie simply rolled her eyes. "An ostrich race," sarcasm poured out of her every word, "a couple of us thought it'd make for a fun time." 

"Obviously, it's with a car, Charlie. The sarcasm is not appreciated," he chastised her, "what I meant was if it was a private race or a showcase?" 

"Showcase was a few weeks ago, this one's private," she divulged.

"And?" Nate prompted when he saw that she wasn't going to say anything else. 

"There's nothing to tell." She claimed starting to get up from her sitting position only to be brought back down by Eliot's firm hold on her shoulder pushing her back into the couch.

He was prepared for the jolt this time and held on to her shoulder, not letting her pull away when she tried, "Private races ain't normal, especially not after a showcase." 

Charlie icily glared at him, then down to the hand still on her shoulder and back to his face again. Eliot got the message, he let go of her and settled into the other end of the couch.

"Basically I won the race at the showcase. Some jerk couldn't take losing to a girl and wanted a rematch. Tonight's the rematch," Charlie explained, "end of story." 

"You win fair and square the race?" Eliot inquired.

Charlie whipped her head around and fixed him with an angry glare, "I don't cheat. I won because I'm the better driver." 

"All right," Eliot replied in what he considered his soothing voice. "Can't blame a guy for wondering. You do have all them reading powers and what not." 

"I'm good, Eliot." Charlie purred at him. "I can do things you've never seen before. Things others will never know how to," she paused looked him straight in the eyes and flicked her tongue out to wet her lips, "I'm the best. And that's not my ego talking." 

Eliot gave her half a grin; she knew what she was doing to him. Hell, she was enjoying herself. "If you're so good, honey, why the rematch? What do have to prove?" 

At his questions she smirked widely, momentarily conjuring up an image of the Cheshire cat. "I ruffled the other driver's pride. I won the race, won all the money; I didn't need to prove anything in a rematch. He however, had a bruised ego, he deluded himself into thinking he could actually beat me. He wasn't in the best of positions." Charlie shifted on the sofa, crossing her legs making the already short dress ride up even more, distracting Eliot's attention to the new skin available to his eyes. "Willing to do and take what he wanted. I agreed to a rematch, but only to get what I wanted." 

Eliot slowly worked his gaze from the hemline of her skirt to the swell of her hips up to her small waist and appealing cleavage up her plump lips to her shining eyes. Eliot grabbed at the little self control he could find to ask, "What exactly _do_ you want, darlin'?" 

Nate coughed loudly snapping the couple out of their reverie.

"I want his motorcycle." Charlie proclaimed, acknowledging Nate's presence once again.

"You're doing all of this just to win a bike?" Nate asked in surprise.

"It's not a _just a bike_, Nate," Charlie rebutted, "It's an MV Agusta F4 1100 CC. It's beautiful," she paused when a dreamy smile grazed her face, "and it'll be mine tonight. _That's_ why I agreed to a rematch." 

Nate was suddenly reminded of the smile Parker got whenever she talked about money and gave a small smile too. _Yes_, he thought, _Charlie will fit right in_. 


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6 – Charlie Part

After Nate felt confident that Eliot and Charlie would be okay on their own he headed back to Boston, mentally thinking up what he would say to Sophie. He had a feeling that she was still upset about the Charlie situation, if her hasty retreat from the room the night before was any indicator.

Charlie didn't know what to do with Eliot. Eliot didn't know what to do with Charlie. Therefore they simply stood together in the living room of Charlie's flat. After a few more moments of awkward silence Charlie spoke. "Why don't I take you down to the garage? I have to pack and take care of some things before I leave tomorrow. You can hang around in the garage. Explore and all that…" dismissively waving her hand in the air, Charlie started to make her way back down the stairs to the main part of the shop.

Eliot didn't feel like sitting around all day anyway. They went through the mysterious back door he had seen earlier that led to a sort of lounge area with two desks against the wall, a small kitchen area in a corner and a sofa and a few chairs here and there. Over in one of the desks sat the big man from earlier.

"Jimmy," Charlie called to the man, "This is Eliot. He's going to hang out for a while. Going to the race later with me. Could you show him around?"

Jimmy looked down at Charlie, always amazed by how small she actually was. She was technically his employer but she had such a form that she made him feel as an equal. That was something he appreciated. However, _why_ she was bringing this pretty boy around he didn't know. "You sure about that, Char?" he said with a head nod in Eliot's direction.

"Yes, Jimmy," Charlie said, sending Jimmy her sweetest smile. "He's a... friend. I'm going to be gone for a while after tomorrow. Not sure for how long this time, but Eliot here will be escorting me. Making sure I'm safe and all. So be nice to him."

Jimmy never could say no to her when she used that smile on him. "Okay fine," he acquiesced with a grumble, "come on pretty boy. Charlie runs a pretty big place round here, lots to see." With that he turned and started to walk to one of the other doors in the room.

"Thank you Jimmy," Charlie called at the big man, turning to Eliot. "Try not to glare so much. Don't want you scaring away any of the guys here. If you need anything, Jimmy will take care of it." She finished with a hard stare of her own for good measure and then walked out the way they'd come in.

"Well... come on. Stop staring at the girl and get to walking." Jimmy called to Eliot. "You'll wanna see the garage first, that's where we do all the..." Eliot followed along dutifully taking in everything around him along with everything Jimmy said about the shop.

An hour later, Eliot had seen more expensive, exclusive auto and motorcycle parts grouped in one place than he'd ever seen in his life. The shop ran smoothly, efficiently and just this side of legal by what he could make out. He'd spent some time talking to some of the mechanics in the place, all of which were working on different projects throughout the place. The shop was larger than he had originally gauged.

The final room of the tour, Jimmy called 'The Gallery'. It consisted of three customized bikes set around the room in what seemed pedestals. Eliot was amazed by the custom work that went into each of the bikes, one of which looked to be almost vintage.

"Charlie won that one in Chile I think," Jimmy informed him, when Eliot took a step closer to inspect the vintage looking bike, "it was a piece of crap when she brought it in, but she said it had soul. Spent about a year working on it, decided it would be her pet project and didn't allow anyone else to touch it. The day she finished it though, you'd think she had won the lottery or something. Gathered up all the crew and said she wanted to introduce us to Cobb. We all thought she'd finally gotten herself a boyfriend. Betty, my wife, she loves that child up there as her own, got all excited and rushed down to the shop. When she found out Cobb was this here... well, it sure was a funny sight to see." Jimmy laughed over the memory of his wife's reaction to Cobb the bike.

Sure enough, as Eliot got closer to where the bike stood there was a small nameplate at the bottom of the pedestal that read:

Cobb - 1956

"Figure tonight, Char will be adding another one to her collection here." Jimmy said after his laughter died down.

"Yeah, heard somethin' about the grand prize being a bike she wants." Eliot mentioned.

"_Wants_?" Jimmy chuckled, "Charlie's been after that bike for a while now. She just had to find a way to get the idiot to give it up. She spent months figuring out how to…" Jimmy's phone ringing interrupted his sentence, looking down at the screen; he looked back up at Eliot, "You can find your way back, right? Gotta take this." Answering his phone Jimmy left Eliot alone with the bikes, just as the conversation had been starting to get good.

Eliot wandered around the room a bit more. The other two bikes were displayed in similar fashion. There were lights in the ceiling aimed at the bikes at just the right angle to showcase them even better. Jimmy was right, this was a gallery.

Deciding he needed some information of his own Eliot fished out his com from his front pocket, put it in his hear and turned it on.

"Hardison, you there?" He asked quietly into the com.

"Eliot! Man, where the hell are you?" Hardison asked, "Nate got back about an hour ago; Sophie and him have been locked up in his room since then. All you hear every once in a while is Sophie yelling at Nate. Now you gotta..."

"Eliot!" Parker yelled into the com, "Where are you? Why didn't you come back with Nate?"

"Woman," Hardison reprimanded as Parker jumped in the couch next to him, "we're not deaf, stop with the yelling. So, Eliot, tell us about the Charlie guy."

Eliot let out a soft sigh, "Charlie is female." Eliot simply stated, cutting into the childish bickering on the other end.

"Is she hot?" asked Hardison.

Eliot recalled the image of her sitting on the sofa earlier that day, "She's Sophie's little sister."

"What?" Hardison said at the same time Parker said; "Creepy. A mini-Sophie."

"No Parker. Not a mini-Sophie." Eliot ground out annoyed that he couldn't get his teammates to focus. "Hardison, I need you to look her up, see what comes up on her. Name's Charlie Marlowe."

"Already on it, man." Hardison replied with a typing frenzy. "Interesting." he commented.

"Hardison," Eliot chastised, "stop with commentary and tell me what you found."

"You know what, Eliot," Hardison cried back, "you need to work on that control of yours."

"Hardison!" Parker yelled at him, "Just read what the computer tells you."

"I swear I'm surrounded by impatient people... okay here we go," Hardison began. "Charlie Marlowe. Born Charlotte Marlowe, birth certificate shows the father as Jeremy Jeremy. Interestingly enough, that's the same alias on Sophie's birth certificate too."

"Wait," Parker interrupted again, "You looked Sophie up?" she asked interested in what he might have found.

"It's what I do. When she told us her real name I checked up on her, make sure things matched," Hardison replied offhandedly. "Anyways back to our girl," with a few more keystrokes a picture of Charlie came up on the screen, "Wow. She _**is**_ hot." A slow growl from Eliot got Hardison back on track.

"Born in Tennessee. Mother died in childbirth, raised by a family member Rose Redkins. Lived there until she was six, then they moved to Ireland. After that both of them go off the grid, completely. Doesn't show up again until ten years later in Japan. Made some not so nice people angry by winning a race she wasn't supposed to. After that she is all over the racing world. Winning some races, loosing others, but with each race she moves up the ranks in the racing community. Few years of this and… whew, some serious cash later, she starts to pop up all over Europe. Go figure, she frequents the same spots as Sophie for a while. Spends the next few years, pretty much traveling the world and taking people's money at the races. About five years ago, she comes back to the US, several million dollars richer and owning business overseas, she goes back to Tennessee. About a year after that she starts 'Specialty Parts and Shop' up here. Business looks legit. Not sure how she managed it, but everything adds out. Most of her parts come from the sister company in Japan, owned by her as well. After the business goes up and running… she seems to settle down." Hardison finished.

Eliot considered all the information Hardison has provided. Nothing about being a reader on there, Hardison would have found it if there were.

"Nothin' else comin' up?" Eliot slowly drawled out.

"Nah, man. That's all; Red there just has a lot of listings on races and what not. A few videos… she seems pretty good." Hardison replied back, as he watched a video of Charlie winning a race in Mexico.

"Why would Nate get us a racer? What's she gonna do... drive the getaway car?" Parker wondered, laughing at her own joke.

"Among other things, yes Parker. Charlie will be driving the getaway car." Nate said, making his way down the stairs, with Sophie right behind him.

"Oops." Parker whispered on her end.

"Haridson, _**why**_ is my sister up on those screens?" Sophie demanded, anger marring her otherwise beautiful features.


	7. Chapter 7

AN (pls read):

Hello everyone! It's been a while since I updated, but don't think I'm forgetting this story because I'm not. Life just took over for a bit and I was forced to give in. happily though, I am back in action again! Yay!

Thank you to everyone who read/commented/favorite/alerted this story. I don't think anything has put such a goofy happy smile on my face they way those emails with the notice that ppl like my story make me. Lol

A huge thanks to T&C for betaing this chapter. And congrats on getting a new job! As good for her as this is, it means I'm out a beta…. Therefore, let the soliciting begin! I am looking for a new beta, to curve my overenthusiasm and make sure that I our beloved Leverage characters sound as true to themselves as possible. If you're willing to help a struggling fanfic author, send me a PM. THANKS!

Also, after the last few shows, we will say that this story goes in a different direction off of Episode 1 in Season 3, since I had no idea that Parker was so handy around cars, I might bring some of that into this story later, but that is still unknown. For now, in my universe we know nothing of Parkers great talents.

Also, if you want to see a picture of the dress and outfit that Charlie wears to the race, go to my homepage on where you can be directed to my blog and see awesomely cute pictures!

Disclaimer: As if! Seriously? Would I be writing on here if I owned any part of Leverage?

**Chapter 7**

"_**Why **_is my sister up on the screens, Hardison?" Sophie demanded, anger marring her otherwise beautiful features.

The hacker didn't know what to say. Therefore, he simply stayed quiet. However, when Parker started to speak, Hardison wished he had spoken before her.

"Sophie," at this Parker snickered and looked towards Nate, _Can't believe he still doesn't know her real name_! "We are getting a mini you! Although, she doesn't really look like you…" Parker finished wrinkling up her forehead and looking between Sophie and the picture of Charlie on the screen then back to Sophie again.

Alternating between looking at Hardison and Parker, Sophie inserted her com. "Eliot? Why is Hardison pulling up all this information on my sister? I don't want you nosing around where you don't belong!" Sophie huffed to Eliot over the coms.

Eliot was hoping no one but Hardison would find out about him wanting more info on the reader.

"Sophie, we are not nosing around; just looking for more information. That's all." Eliot smoothly replied, when the door opening on the other end of the garage grabbed his attention. "And, now that we know more about your sister, I have to go." With that he pocketed his com back into his pant pocket.

"Eliot, ready to go?" Charlie asked giving him a strange look, _had he been talking to himself just now_?

Eliot turned around from pretending to still be admiring the motorcycle, mouth ready to speak when he caught sight of Charlie. She had changed out of her green dress and cowboy boots and now was wearing a sinful looking get up. Her hair was swept up in a high pony tail, bringing attention to her heart shaped face. Her eyes looked bigger than they had just a few hours ago thanks to carefully applied make up. Her lips full and lush seemed to call to him. Her dress, however, was what kept him speechless. The high neckline ran straight across her shoulders ending in short sleeves. The color of different shades of metallic brown ran all the way down the dress, which really wasn't that far to go, since the hem of the outfit seemed to end at upper thigh. To finish off her outfit Charlie wore a pair of brown leather high heeled boots that went up to right over her knee. Dangling off her right hand was a small leather jacket in matching brown leather. If ever there had been a walking wet dream, Charlie was it right now.

Charlie saw the way that Eliot's eyes had gotten just a bit wide at her entrance, taking in her present state of dress. If she were pressed into confession, Charlie would admit that she had put an extra effort tonight into her appearance. Seeing the reaction on Eliot's face meant it was worth it. After about a minute of silence, however, Charlie started to get impatient.

"Eliot… you ready to go? We have to leave?" Charlie spoke slowly and clearly, trying to shake him from his stupor.

"Yeah. I'm ready. Let's go." Eliot managed to get through his muddled thoughts,_ What is happening to me?_ Eliot Spencer, Retrieval Specialist and Hitter didn't go all dumbfounded at the sight of a pretty woman. Usually it was the other way around. Yet, with this woman, it seemed that none of his well-established rules seemed to matter; they were quickly all flying out the window.

"Okay then. Come on." Charlie smiled at Eliot and turned to lead them out of the Gallery. _I'm royally humped!_ The dress seemed to have no back to it. Eliot followed Charlie dutifully all the while naming all the countries he was a wanted man to try to get his mind out of the gutter.

With a knowing smile, Charlie led him to a garage that he hadn't been shown yet. This seemed to be her personal garage. There were two cars parked in here. She led the way to a beautiful red Chevy. She walked towards the driver's side of the car, putting on her jacket in the process, then faced Eliot with a wide smile.

"This," she said waving her hand at the Chevy, "is Ellie."

(Several Hours Later)

Eliot was sure that Sophie was going to be mad that he had rudely disconnected his com on her. He was also sure that she wasn't happy about the fact that they were looking into her little sister. But this? Eliot honestly didn't know how she would react to this.

He picked up a towel, and wetting it, turned to Charlie sitting on the counter next to the sink. Charlie held the icepack gingerly over her bloodied knuckles and simply stared into space in the small bathroom.

"Darlin'," he said as he pushed some hair out of her face to get to the cut over her eyebrow, "this happen often?"

"Only when pathetic, little rich pansy boys decide to back out of their deals." Charlie couldn't believe the nerve of that guy. Demanding a rematch and then not wanting to hand over the bike when she had won the race. Claiming she had cheated and didn't deserve the bike; and then to have the nerve to hit her. Charlie was still steaming over that. "Thanks," she told Eliot as he leaned back against the wall, finished with cleaning her face. "Some people just can't stand to lose. I never figured he'd actually hit a girl! Much less cause a fight."

Charlie hopped off the counter and led them out of the small bathroom, back into the bar/restaurant place she had brought him to. Sitting at a table near the back, drinks had magically appeared at their table. The waitress, a tall blonde in her early fifties gave Charlie a small smile as she placed the drinks on the table, then patted Charlie's head.

"It's alright sweetie. Some men are just scum, no matter what circle they come from. Good for you, you had all that fine back up from them fine men." She finished with a pointed look in Eliot's direction.

"Yeah, good for me. Thanks Mimi." Charlie offhandedly commented as the waitress started to leave. "The nerve of him!" she hissed out as she shot back her first shot of whiskey. Eliot watched in awe as Charlie shot back four more shots and many more creative cursing about the scum called Tom, before she seemed to settle down some. She took hold of her beer and simply held it as she looked out over the bar at the band that had started to play up on the stage.

Twenty-four hours ago, Eliot would have never believed that he would have met a reader, attended an illegal race with said reader, participated in a fight because of her and end up at a strange bar watching as the beautiful red-headed reader's temper simmered down.

After being introduced to Ellie, a 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle SS 454, fully customized and modernized for Charlie personally, by Charlie. They drove for about an hour to the racing site, during which time Eliot was subjected to Charlie's special 'pre-race playlist' as she'd called the music she played. To Eliot it was the most random eclectic mix of music from all eras and nationalities. Not to mention that Charlie sang along to most of the songs, ignoring Eliot for most of the way. During the hour long ride Eliot learned a few things about Charlie. She could steer the car with her left knee as she fiddled with the iPod she had playing. She could ignore a man as easily as a person could breath, as he called out to her to please put her hand on the wheel. And, she was a horrible singer; she was off key, off time with the songs playing and liked to make up her own lyrics for half of the music.

When they finally arrived at the designated racing spot, Eliot was relieved. Being stuck in a car with a singing Charlie reminded him of the feeling he got when he had to sit through one of Sophie's one woman plays. As they got out of the car, he realized that there was already a whole group of people there. The sides of the road were littered with all typed of racing cars. It was like a type of rave in the middle of a deserted back road that probably would not even show up on a map. As Eliot had gotten out of the car and made his way over to Charlie, he found her carefully observing the crowd around them. She turned to him and started to speak and Eliot idly wondered how someone with such a nice voice when speaking could sound so horrible when singing.

"Listen up. Tomorrow I enter your world and whatever crazy rules you might have there. Tonight, though… tonight you're in _my _world. Let me warn you about a few things you should know. We call them "House Rules" around here. First off, a pair of blonde twins will offer you free alcohol. Under no circumstances drink it, unless you want to be puking all morning long tomorrow. Don't try to flirt with any of the women around here, especially the ones who try and hit on you first. That's a whole boatload of trouble we're not going to deal with tonight." As she spoke she started to walk toward the row of cars parked off to a side, "This is Tommy, I think you met him at the shop earlier. He's my right hand man out here," she said waving to a tall dark hair man he had indeed met earlier. "Over there, by the green truck that's Marcus. He handles the money and bets. It all works out in the end." She said with a smile. As they reached the group where Tommy was she stopped and turned to Eliot, "You can stay with Tommy. I have to go…"

"What do you mean stay?" Eliot interrupted her before she could go any further.

"During the race, I need you to stay here."

Eliot crossed his arms and stepped closer to her, "I'm ridin' with you, sweetheart. Not lettin' you out of my sight."

At this comment, a ten minute bickering session started. Charlie saying he would not ride with her. Eliot maintaining that he would. Finally it was Tommy who ended the back and forth.

"Charlie, just let him ride with you. I'm sure after tonight he won't ever want to get in a car with you again." Tommy said with a throaty laughter that he tried to cover as a cough.

Charlie threw him a death glare, then considered his suggestion for a minute. It was known amongst her crew that she was a unique racer. Maybe Eliot Spencer did need to experience this.

"All right then. Come on, Spencer." Charlie conceded.

After the bets were placed with Marcus, Tom (the spurned driver) handing over the title to his bike and Charlie admitting in her own title for Ellie, the race was ready to begin.

When Charlie drove, she was crazy reckless or 'confident of her abilities' as she had told him earlier. She danced and sang along to her music and enjoyed the driving experience. When Charlie raced it was completely different. Music, it seemed, was the only thing that was the same.

Charlie took a deep breath and looked over at Eliot. Her eyes were no longer the stormy gray from before; they were liquid silver, solidifying slowly. She winked and smiled at him, "Buckle up tight." She said and then she was off.

To see Charlie race was an experience of its own. Her iPod played a fast paced Irish jig, which she turned up to full volume. Overall the race was shorter than he expected, but that was more than enough for him. She turned corners way too fast; she sped up as fast as the car would go only to slam on the brakes and emergency brakes to make the car spin around. One time she over calculated a turn and ended up almost against the railing, a smile on her face and a small "oops" her only response. And then, just as quickly as it had started, it seemed to end. Charlie won the race, and coming to a stop, much faster than Eliot would have liked, the car was soon flooded by her friends at the ready with congratulations.

Everything seemed to be going good, until the bastard named Tom came and started complaining of foul play. When Charlie simply rolled her eyes and requested the motorcycle be rendered over, he refused. To say that Charlie was angry would have been an understatement. Charlie was pissed. One hand fisted at her hip while she pointed the other in his face. The man wasn't that tall, so they were about eye level. Charlie insisted once more that the bike be given over. Marcus standing off to the side, nodded his head in agreement, he had the motorcycle's title along with the title for her car in hand ready to hand them over to Charlie, when one of Tom's man grabbed his shoulder, restraining him back from the bickering racers. Yet the stupid bastard refused to give over what was 'rightfully his' and that's when Charlie lost it. She slapped him hard across the face, but the lowlife had the nerve to strike back. At this, Eliot jumped to go break them up, but some of his goons were on the ready. As he was beating the men down, Eliot noticed that he wasn't the only one who had jumped to Charlie's defense. Tommy and a few others were in a similar position with other's on Eli's side. Eliot quickly beat the man who had attacked him and made his way to Charlie. Prying the little creep off her, Eliot threw him against the hood of his own car and then held him there.

"Hand over the bike." He growled down at the smaller man. Tom looked around and saw that all his men were down, Charlie stood behind the man holding him down, fire burning in her eyes, and behind her were about four other men. Things weren't looking too good for him. With a huffed, "Fine." Eliot let go slightly of the man. Tom nodded over to the goon restraining Marcus and he let go. Then reached into his pocket for a key, and motioned to one of his less injured men to bring the bike around. A few minutes later, Tom's man had brought the motorcycle to them. Charlie, with the title in hand, took the key from the man who had driven it up and inspected it with a critical eye, and then handed the bike, keys and title over to Tommy who took them all away. Eliot still had a hold on the small man. Charlie walked back to them, held her hand up to Eliot's shoulder, motioning for him to let go of the scumbag.

"Tommy, dear," Charlie said as though she were admonishing a child, "didn't your parent's ever teach you not to hit girls?" Charlie stood right in front of him now, "They usually tend to hit back!" with that she pulled back and punched him straight in the nose, satisfied by the blood gushing out of it.

Eliot snickered quietly and followed after Charlie. Reaching the car, he took in Charlie's pained face and the way she cradled her hand. Fist fights obviously were not something she was used too. She had a bleeding lip and scratches across her face, not to mention the start of a bruise on her cheek and on her neck into her shoulder from where the pansy Tom had grabbed her. Marcus came over to then, first aid kit in hand. He kissed her softly on her uninjured cheek, gave a nod to Eliot and walked away. Charlie, was about to get into the car when Eliot grabbed her uninjured hand.

"Let me see your hand." He told her.

"Not here, come on. I need a drink. There's a bar not too far from here." She replied getting back into the car.

Eliot leaned in to the car, blocking her from opening the door. "You can't drive with that hand." He didn't doubt that letting someone else drive her car was going against everything inside of her, but she gracefully admitted that he was right, walking over to the passenger side.

Once they were settled into the car, Charlie smiled pleasantly at him, "You hurt Ellie and I hurt you. Understood?"

"Understood. Now where's this bar?"

Coming back to the present moment he looked over at Charlie. Her hand was sprained but otherwise it was okay. She was bruised but, her face was now blood free. The urge to lean over and settle her hair back into place was overwhelming, so Eliot took another drink from his beer instead. When they'd finished off their drinks they headed back to Charlie's flat. Eliot drove once again, loving the feel of the car; Ellie sure was one of a kind. Charlie had fallen asleep by the time they reached her flat. Gently, Eliot carried her from the car all the way into her bedroom. He set her in bed and then just looked down at her. She really was a small thing. He decided that taking off her boots and jacket would be okay. After she was free of her boots and jacket, Eliot pulled the cover over her. Just as he was finishing her small hand reached out and grabbed his. The energy bolt feeling was back, but she was too tired to think about that now. "Thank you for having my back tonight," she whispered "I set up the guest bedroom for you, if you want. Its two doors down. Sleep well." With that she let go of his hand and turned to her side snuggling into the covers.

In the guest bedroom she had laid out some things for him; sleeping clothes, extra pillows and blankets and a toothbrush. He decided on a shower to ease some of the stress of the day off. Barefoot and clad in the sleeping clothes Charlie had set out for him he went into her kitchen. Opening her fridge he saw some left over take out and decided Charlie wouldn't mind too much if he ate it, considering that the only other things available were a loaf of bread, a cookie jar full of chocolate chip cookies and a cake in the fridge. Settling down at the bar stool, he softly laughed at the overabundance of flour and sugar in her kitchen

_Still so much to learn about you_, _little reader,_ he thought as he made his way to bed.

AN2:

Please hit the review button and let me know your thoughts! Much love and thanks for reading!


	8. Chapter 8

AN: OMG! You guys must hate me! To think it has been this long since I updated! I said this before and I will say it again, I WILL finish this story, it will just take longer than any of us would like. Hopefully there is still someone reading this, if so… please review to let me know you are out there.

BTW: This is unbeta'd, all errors are mine. if anyone is interesting in voluntaring for the job, please send me PM.

Much love! – AguiD

Disclaimer: I don't know, yadda yadda yadda, not mine, blah blah blah.

XOXOXOXOXX

Charlie knew she was dreaming. The setting was familiar, comforting, warm and inviting.

The first time she had this dream, she fell in love with it. In the real world she didn't know of a place so calm and serene, with warm pinks for sky and the clearest of blues in the ocean water. This dream was her friend, her constant. Even though she knew she was dreaming and she knew what would happen, she could never change the steps, she simply went through the motions as if it were her first time.

Charlie walked along the beach, the setting sun making its way slowly into the ocean. She always caught herself thinking on the beautiful contrast between, bright yellow sun, warm pink clouds and clear blue water. As she walked further along the beach, she made her way to the lone large rock, where she climbed up and sat down to enjoy the view.

She admired the view and couldn't help but wonder she had someone to share it with. As she looked down into the sand, saw the imprint her feet had left as she walked, she noticed that right along with her steps, larger foot prints, with wider strides mirrored her own. Because this was a dream, and one she had dreamt many times before, she felt a pang of sadness and longing for she knew what would happen next. She would look back up from the sand to see another body sitting next to her on her lone rock.

Charlie knew she was dreaming, and this was the part she always hated. She knew what would happen next. She would look up and see the man who had joined her, his features obscured by a mask. As she would reach for the mask to pull it away the sun would suddenly set and she would be encompassed in darkness, unable to see his face. Then the faceless man would laugh cruelly at her and she would wake up. Charlie knew she was dreaming and knew what was to come, and try as she might this was one dream she could never changed. The Charlie in the dream slowly looked up from the footprints in the sand to his bare feet, moving past loose fitting pant clad legs, up to the torso of the man. She briefly stopped at his chest which was at eye level, took a breath and looked up to see his masked face. However, for the first time in over 10 years her masked dream man had a face. A face she had been staring at for most of the previous day. She looked up and made eye contact with Eliot Spencer. With a smile on his face he held out his hand to her.

Charlie woke up gasping. She sat up in bed and breathed heavily trying to get as much air into her as possible. After a few moments, her breathing returned to something resembling normal, yet when she held her hands out in front of her they slightly trembled. _Why did the dream change tonight?_ Charlie kept repeating in her head. The dream had never changed, not in all the years she'd been having it. Never, not even when she tried to change it and deviate from what normally happened, it was as if she had no control over it. The dream would always happen the same way; until now. Taking in her surroundings she saw that she was in her bedroom, but couldn't remember coming in here. Upon closer inspection she noticed that she was still wearing last night's dress. Slowly she remembered Eliot driving back to the flat, and figured he had brought her up. Getting out of bed Charlie made her way to the bathroom. As unsettling as the dream was, she couldn't focus on that right now. She needed to get herself under control; today was going to be a big day.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXO

Eliot's eyes jolted open. He'd known Charlie all of one day and already he was having dreams about her. In that moment Eliot wondered who he was, because he didn't recognize the man he had been for the past 24 hours. Glancing over at the clock on the nightstand he noticed it read 4AM. He blinked his eyes a few times, driving away the sleep and suddenly wishing he could sleep more than his regular 90 minutes. He heard slow thumping and then a door open, then another door open and close and then the shower start to run. Why Charlie was up already he didn't know, but seeing how the bathroom wouldn't be available just yet, he took a few moments to conjure up his dream again. Charlie, in a flowing long white dress, hair flowing down her back in the wind; it was beautiful. The look of shock and happiness that crossed her eyes when she looked up at him, that was what had caught his attention; and it was that moment that he kept bring up in his mind. Eliot gave himself the pleasure of indulging in a little daydream about Charlie.

His day dream was loudly ended by Charlie playing the stereo at full blast in the living room. With an exasperated sigh, Eliot got out of bed and started to get dress while mentally preparing himself for whatever was waiting for him on the other side of the door.

After a few minutes, Eliot walked out of the guest bedroom and made his way toward the kitchen. As he got closer he realized that the loud music actually had a rhythm and style to it. It was Latin music. As he entered the kitchen, Charlie was awkwardly rolling dough, both good and bruised hand working together, while dancing in place in time to the song.

Looking up at him, she smiled, "Good morning!"

"How can you be so chirpy this early in the morning?" he all but yelled at her over the music. "Do you have to play that this loud?"

Shrugging to herself, Charlie walked over to the iPod stand and lowered the volume. "I'm not chirpy," Charlie's mouth showing her distaste as she said the word, "I'm just awake. I'm usually the only one here, so I get to play the music as loud as I like. Sorry your head can't take it."

She turned back to her dough, separating it into 8 smaller balls. Then she took a bowl out of the fridge as Eliot made his way to get some coffee.

Eliot sat on a barstool and watch Charlie work. Turns out she was making Cinnamon Rolls. Feeling ignored again, a feeling that was getting on his nerve; Eliot decided to do something he never did willingly. He started small talk.

"I didn't know you could cook." He told her, internally smiling at his simple yet friendly beginning.

Charlie stopped the placing of the rolls on a baking sheet and looked up at him as if he had two heads. "I don't cook. Where would you ever get an idea like that?"

Obviously not so simple, Eliot corrected his earlier thought.

"Well, what do you call what you're doing right now then?"

"I'm baking. I was trying to show my thanks for your help last night. This is breakfast." She said, turning around and putting the baking sheet into the oven.

Eliot tried to follow her words, he really did, but it didn't quite make sense. "So… you don't cook. You bake?" he asked.

Charlie raised an eyebrow, jutted her hip out and rested her hand on her hip, "That would be rather obvious now wouldn't it?" she replied sarcastically. "I had more to drink than you last night, are you hung over?" pause, "Wow. I thought you could handle alcohol better than _that_." With that final statement she left the kitchen and made her way to her room.

Eliot tightened his grip on his mug. _Will not hurt her, will not hurt her_. He kept repeating to himself. This woman was crazy; and not even "I'm Parker and don't know any better, so I enjoy jumping off rooftops" type of crazy. She was just plain crazy. People who made statements like that about him usually ended in a great deal of pain. _Can't hold my alcohol! What the hell is wrong with her!_ His mind kept yelling at him.

Charlie silently laughed in her bedroom. The look on Eliot's face was too much! The man had to learn to take himself less seriously. _Ah_, she thought, _but here he comes_.

"Listen, darlin' I don't know what would lead you to say something like that about me, but I can assure you I can more than 'handle my alcohol'." Eliot was fuming now, if she'd been a man he'd hit her, but she wasn't and she was already a bit beat up from last night. However, that didn't mean that he couldn't correct her way of thinking.

Then she just burst into laughter. She literally fell over into her bed and held her stomach from laughing so much. This in turn just made Eliot madder.

"What!" he yelled at Charlie, "What is _so_ funny?"

Charlie attempted to gain her breath to speak but Eliot's face just kept getting redder, she couldn't control herself. Finally sitting up in bed she took a deep and spoke. "You Eliot. _You_ are what's so funny. Can't you take a joke?" Charlie sat a bit higher up in bed, "I was just joking with you. I'm sure you can handle your alcohol plenty well. Much better than me, I'm sure. I was the one who had to be carried up into bed last night." She switched to standing on her knees and made her way to the end of the bed and closer to Eliot. "I just couldn't help myself. You're so easy to anger. And then you got so red, it was just too funny."

Eliot leveled Charlie with his meanest scowl. She was mocking him and that didn't sit well with him.

"You shouldn't scowl so much like that, you're gonna get wrinkles in all the wrong places." She pointed out, obviously not intimidated by his signature intimidating scowl.

Letting out all the air in his lungs, he reached over and brushed his air off his face.

"Whatever." He muttered lamely and walked back to the kitchen, but not before Charlie could see his small half-sided smile.

A few minutes later the cinnamon rolls were done and Charlie plated him one; liberally iced with her cream cheese icing. Eliot bit into the roll and his eyes closed. Eliot loved to cook, he had traveled the world and tasted the best, and worse, each culture had to offer, but he had never tasted a pastry as good as this.

"This is awesome." he mumbled around a mouth full of food.

"I know." Charlie just agreed.

After two cinnamon rolls and another cup of coffee, Eliot was starting to feel good.

"That was amazing. From one cook to another, I've never had a better cinnamon roll." He admitted to Charlie.

She turned, tilting her head to the side, "I'm glad you liked it, but I'm not a cook. Why do you keep saying that?"

"Charlie, you cooked the cinnamon rolls. You made the dough, and I'm guessing the cinnamon mix and icing too. That is cooking."

"No. That is baking. I'm a baker. Not a cook." She spoke slowly as if speaking to a child.

Eliot could see he wasn't going to get anywhere with her on this.

"Okay then. You're a baker."

"Exactly!" she smiled widely at him. Her smile seemed to be infectious, since soon he was smiling too. "Now that you're all full and happy, let's start loading my stuff. I bet Sophie is simply going insane waiting for us."

XOXOXOXOXOXO

A good two hours later, Eliot was finally done dragging boxes and luggage down to the small trailer that Charlie had hooked up to Peggy, her 'everyday car', that just happened to be a vintage 1968 Ford Mustang. Eliot observed that Charlie seemed to have a thing for vintage cars and motorcycles.

Charlie took a last look around her apartment and made sure things were in order, then locked up and made her way down to Eliot and Peggy.

"Okay all set." She told Eliot.

"Are you sure, there isn't another suitcase or box of shoes you forgot?" Eliot quietly growled. She might not look a thing like Sophie, but she travelled with just as much baggage. Charlie noticed that he was irritated, but didn't take it to heart since she quickly learned that irritated and growling was just his default emotion.

"I doubled checked. Everything is already packed. Let's go then!" Charlie smiled at him and jumped in the driver's seat.

"Sure you don't want me to drive?" he asked her, shrugging off the feeling of déjà-vu from the previous night asking her the same thing.

"Are you insane!" she screeched at his, "You're not driving Peggy. Let's go already!" she insisted, as if it had been his fault they had taken so long.

Once they were out in the road, Eliot's curiosity got the better of him, "How come I could drive the other car but not this one?"

Charlie settled on a playlist to play and settled back into her seat. For a moment, Eliot thought she would ignore his question but then she replied.

"The 'other car' has a name, ya know. Apart from the, I was in pain and then slightly drunk last night, I gave in and let you drive, otherwise you wouldn't have either. But… Ellie is like my beloved niece. I take her out and we play and have fun, and sometimes I let other people join too. Peggy… well Peggy is my baby girl. No one drives her but me."

Eliot wasn't sure how he felt about the analogy she used. It was a bit creepy, but even creepier was that he understood her meaning. He looked over at Charlie and saw that she was turning up the volume and was about to start singing along. _Not that again!_ his mind yelled at him. Quickly he reached over and put the volume down.

"How long did it take you to get Peggy all customized?" Eliot figured if he could keep her talking, then she wouldn't be singing. Boston was about an hour away and his poor ears couldn't handle another sing-a-long drive. It turned out he was right, Charlie loved to talk about her 'baby'. He was surprised at how good the conversation went; she had knowledge about just about anything with a motor on it.

Soon they arrived in Boston. After a few short instructions from Eliot about where they were going they arrived in front of McGrerors.

Stepping out of the car, Eliot led the way into the building, up the stairs and up to Nate's front door. He glanced back and saw that Charlie was slowly following along, looking all around her.

He opened the door to Nate's apartment and was welcomed by upraised voices and arguing.

"Honey, we're home." he called out, getting the teams attention and making them quiet down. The whole team turned to face him just as Charlie made her way next to Eliot.

Charlie took in the scene in front of her. Nate and Sophie were at the table, next to them on the barstool was a young black man and next to him, on the counter, sat a pretty blonde woman.

Bringing her eyes back to her sister; Charlie smiled warmly, "Bonjour, ma chéri."


	9. Chapter 9

Yay! Another chapter! Ok, this one is mostly a filler episode. But I just wanted to get it out there. There will be some French on here, because I always saw Sophie as being very European, and it seemed natural for her when being with a familiar person to speak French. That and I know a bit of French myself. Lol. Hopefully the translations aren't too bad.

Not beta'd so all errors are mine. And sadly I still don't own leverage.

Chapter 9

Sophie stood up from the table and made her way to Charlie.

"Charlotte." she said softly as she enveloped Charlie in a tight hug. As she pulled back, Sophie started in on Charlie, reprimanding her in perfect French.

"Charlotte, qu'est qui tu réflexion? (Charlotte what are you thinking ?) Sophie continued speaking sternly to Charlie, while Charlie dutifully let her get everything off her chest, "Ce n'est pas l'endroit pour tu! Tu es trop bonne pour cela. Tu n'es pas un voleur. " (This is not the place for you. You are too good for this. You are not a thief.) Sophie finished on a soft sigh. She loved her sister dearly. She was a bit of a wild child, even now as an adult, but she was not a thief. She couldn't allow her baby sister to get involved, especially now that the risk in their jobs was higher than ever.

Charlie smiled at her older sister while slowly grabbing her hand and kissing it. "Ma belle sœur, tu avez raison. Je ne suis pas un voleur. Mais, je ne suis pas un ange no plus. Tu es inquiète pour ma sécurité. (My beautiful sister, you are right, I am not a thief. But I am not an angel either. You are worried for my safety.)" Charlie laughed softly at this, " Y je suis inquiète pour tu sécurité aussi. C'est le raison pour pourquoi je suis ici. (And I am worried for your safety too. That is the reason why I am here.)" Charlie slowly glanced at Eliot, who had made his way over to the table my Nate. Catching his eye, she gave him a small smile. "Il y a plus répéter. Mais nous sommes être impoli. (There is more to tell. But, we are being rude.)" With this she nudged Sophie to turn and face the rest of the team and waited patiently while Sophie made the introductions.

Sophie let the subject go for now, though she was intrigued to find out what else Charlie had to tell. Turning to the rest of her team she said, "Charlotte, you already know Eliot and Nate. The remaining two," she pointed at Parker and Hardison, "Parker, our resident thief, and that is Hardison, hacker extraordinaire. Parker, Hardison, this is my younger sister, Charlotte Marlow," she paused momentarily, "not that you didn't already know that. Considering you already ran her through your computer. "

Charlie's eyes lit up at this, "You know all about me? Really? Whatcha know?" she smiled widely at them.

Hardison was caught off guard by her enthusiasm, especially considering, that Sophie had just told her that they had been snooping. Parker was eyeing the woman up and down. She looked nothing like Sophie. And she was smiling; maybe a little too much.

Upon seeing that the two simply looked at her, she prompted again, speaking slower this time, "What do you know about me? I'm very interested in knowing. I'm sure it's just the boring stuff. Probably the stuff you could dig up online. Right?" she asked looking at Hardison.

"Well… yeah. Didn't mean to be rude or anything. Just wasn't sure who Nate was bringing on. That's all." Hardison quickly told the beautiful red head, with a wacky grin on his face. Parker looked over at Hardison, why was he smiling like that. She didn't like it.

Charlie nodded her head, "If you wanted to know, you should of just asked. Sophie's right. I'm not a thief. Thief's tend to get paranoid way too easily," she said glancing over at Parker quickly before bringing her attention back to Hardison, "Charlotte is my real name, unlike some." She waved vaguely in Sophie's direction, "I'm not wanted in any countries, like other people." At this she turned her whole body to face Eliot and gave him a pointed look, then looked around the entire room, "Although I expect that all of you are wanted… somewhere for something. My life, compared to yours, is rather boring actually. So if there is anything you want to know, just ask." She finished with a laugh and shrug, holding her hands out in a sign of openness.

At her movement, Nate saw the bandaged hand. "How about you start by telling us what happened to your hand?"

Charlie quickly looked at Eliot, just as Eliot turned to look at her too.

"This?" she asked holding up her hand, "Nothing really. Just me being clumsy is all."

Sophie chuckled softly at that, "Darling, if there is anything I taught you it was to not be clumsy. What really happened?" she started talking to Charlie, but her question was directed at Eliot. He had been the one in charge of keeping her safe.

"Nothing happened. She just got a bit… enthusiastic at her race last night. She won." Eliot said as if, Charlie's winning made it all worthwhile.

"You had a race last night?" the first words Parker had spoken up until now.

"Yeah, it's why I couldn't come back with Nate; had to get my nice new toy from an annoying little jerk." Charlie looked over at the blonde. She placed Parker at a few years younger than her, not much, just a few. By her body language it was obvious the thief wasn't rolling out the welcoming mat.

Nate knew things weren't going as smoothly as he had wished so he decided to take over the situation which was slowly growing awkward.

"Charlie, I'm sure we're all glad that you are here to help out, why don't we get you settled in." he spoke gesturing to Sophie.

"Right, I have plenty of space at my place, we can go and get you settled" Sophie was already planning her attack strategy: get Charlie alone and interrogate her. Charlie however had plans of her own. Interrupting Sophie she spoke.

"Actually, I have a place in town. I wouldn't want to impose on your space."

"What? You don't have any property in Boston. I checked." Hardison interjected, looking up all his info on Charlie again.

"Do you believe everything on the internet?" Charlie laughed, "I told you, if you want to know things about me, ask. Half of the stuff you found is probably incorrect or only half way true. I have plenty of property."

"Very well, you have a place in Boston that no one knew about. I'll come along and help you unpack." Sophie said, without giving her a choice she grabbed her jacket and began putting it on as she started to walk towards the door.

Charlie knew when she had been told. Not seeing a way out of her upcoming interrogation she sighed and reached into her enormous shoulder bag.

"Guess I have to go but, here. I made these this morning. They should still be good." with that she put the container full of cinnamon buns on the table and made her way out of room with a final wave goodbye.

Parker, curious as only she knew how to be, jumped from the counter and unto the table, then grabbed the container to inspect its contents. Taking out the cinnamon buns she took a giant bite.

"She can cook too!" she squealed, "You never make me cinnamon buns." She said to Eliot as she stuffed more food into her mouth.

Eliot only looked on as Parker ate most of the buns wondering exactly how much crazier life was going to get with _two_ crazy people now.

AN: I will copy another author's ideas here, thus the quotation marks (sadly I can't remember who said them but if it's you or you know who, pls let me know)

"Reviews are like a naked Eliot. i.e: totally amazing and wonderful!"


	10. Chapter 10

AN:

YAY! Another chapter. The last part is all for fun, since the idea just popped in my head and I could not get rid of it. I'm sure there are many other stories with scenes like that last one, but it's still fun to write/read/imagine happening. The song is "Tighten Up" by The Black Keys.

Unbeta'd, so sorry in advance for any errors.

Disclaimer: Not mine, sadly.

Hope you like! Reviews are love, so give me some love! LOL.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXO

Chapter 10

The 'interrogation' as Charlie liked to think about it, started the moment both women were alone in the car. Sophie didn't waste any time; just jumped to the heart of the matter.

"I know you well enough, little sister, to know that the only reason Nate was able to get you here, was because of me and though I do not agree with you being here, he has made it clear that you will be on our team." Taking a breath she continued talking, "However, what I am curious to know is the 'more to tell' cryptic words from earlier." Then crossing her arms over her chest Sophie stared her younger sibling down, knowing that she would spill everything soon enough.

Sighing loudly and pretending to focus all her attention on navigating the car towards her new home, she started to confess to her sister.

"When Nate said that your life was at stake, naturally I agreed to help. You would do the same thing. Have in fact done it before," Charlie said as she pulled into the car port of a building. Parking her car she turned off the engine and looked her sister in the eye. "However, when Nate showed up with Eliot at my shop, I admit I was… intrigued."

"Intrigued? By whom exactly?" Sophie prodded.

"By Eliot." Charlie looked out the window and remembered the words she had spoken to Nate.

_Flashback:_

_"Who is he Nate?" she said in a pointedly annoyed tone glancing back and indicating she meant Eliot._

_"What? You don't already know." Nate looked over at Charlie, confusion written across his face._

_"If I knew I wouldn't be wasting time asking." She retorted to Nate in that same annoyed tone._

Shaking her head, as if to come back to the moment, she looked down at her hands.

"He's different, Sophie. Different from anything I've ever come across before." She whispered.

"Different how, love?" Sophie whispered back reaching across the space that separated them to grab hold of Charlie's chin and lean her head up to look her in the eye.

"His mind is quiet. I'm talking total silence. I get nothing from his mind. And when he touches me…" Charlie breathed in a large gulp of air, "when he touches me it's like a lightning bolt struck me and my brain goes clear for that exact moment."

Sophie sat back taking in all that her sister had said. So far Charlie hadn't encountered someone who she couldn't read. Charlie had mentioned that some people had more guarded brains than others, and there was that little masking trick she had briefly told her about, but she could always tell if it was being used. This… this was new. She looked back at her sister as she simply sat there, wondering what to say.

"It gets worse though." Sophie couldn't imagine how worse it could get, "The dream. I mean THE dream, the one I've always had." Sophie nodded, showing her understanding. "I had it last night, again. Only this time the mysterious man was him." At this latest admission, Charlie wiped a lone tear that had traitorously escaped her. Sophie stared at her sister. She didn't know what any of this meant, but she did know that something big was going to happen. Something, maybe, even bigger than the Moreau situation.

"Come here chérie." Sophie said as she opened her arms and enveloped her baby sister, mentally sending out all the love she felt, trying to give whatever little comfort she could.

XOXOXOXOXOXOX

Hours later, Sophie was in a cab on her way home. Charlie had calmed down and pretended as if nothing was wrong, but she managed to avoid Eliot's name all evening. Focusing instead of idle chit chat while they moved all her stuff up to her apartment. Sophie knew her sister was a master at putting things aside and never dealing with them, but she felt this was one instance, where she wouldn't allow that. She would help her sister, but in order to do that she needed some help herself first.

Pulling out her cell phone she made a call.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

Eliot, Hardison and Parker sat on top of a rooftop across the street from the building that currently housed Charlie. Eliot wondered how Parker had managed to drag him out here with her and Hardison. She had insisted that she 'learn Charlie' as she had put it. Hardison was willing to go anywhere the thief went and somewhere along the line Eliot was recruited as well. Now they sat on a rooftop, using night as their cover, a pair of binoculars each spying on their newest team member. If Eliot was honest with himself, which at the moment he wasn't ready- nor willing- to be, he would admit that he too was curious about her. This woman, with her eclectic taste in music, easy smile and guarded eyes had him enthralled from their first encounter. This was a new feeling for Eliot. If she had been any other woman he would simply pursue her and rely on his southern charm to get her into his bed. However, that was not doable now. He didn't want her in his bed, he wanted her out of his head. Ok, he thought, maybe in my bed wouldn't be so bad.

"All she does is clean!" Parker's exclamation brought Eliot back to the here and now.

"She just moved in Parker that's what people do." Hardison replied.

As they watched, Charlie stopped in the living room, did a 360 degree turn and verified everything was in place. Then she methodically opened all the windows in the apartment. The fast tempo of the music she was listening to booming out from the place.

"No wonder the place is so out here. With that much noise neighbor's would complain." Hardison mentioned, bringing attention to the peculiar area her apartment was in. This part of town was commercial; at 5pm all of the neighboring businesses closed and at night only Charlie seemed to be in the area.

As she walked towards the radio, she stripped off her shirt, leaving her in a tight fitting lace and silk camisole and the pair of low slung jeans she'd been wearing. She switched to a slower tune and made her way into the kitchen, picking up her hair in a messy bun along the way.

In the kitchen she pulled all sorts of things out of cabinets and then from the fridge as she slowly swayed to the music. From the first notes of the song, Eliot was glued to his binoculars. Once the t-shirt was shed, he saw how well her jeans fit, tight in all the right places and now in only the itty bitty thing she called a camisole it was obvious she hadn't been wearing a bra all day, she'd been with him. Then she started swaying and gyrating her hips to the music and Eliot was stuck. He saw that she was mouthing the words of the song as she started to prepare something in the kitchen.

_I wanted love, I needed love,  
Most of all, most of all  
Someone said true love was dead  
And I'm bound to fall, bound to fall  
For you _

_But what can I do?_

_Take my badge but my heart remains  
Lovin' you, baby child  
Tighten up on your reigns  
You're runnin' wild, runnin' wild  
It's true  
_

She kept tempo with the music; her hips swaying harder and softer as the song demanded.

_Sick for days in so many ways  
I'm achin' now, I'm achin' now  
It's times like these I need relief  
Please show me how, show me how  
To get right_

_When I was young and moving fast  
Nothing slowed me down, slowed me down  
Now I let the others pass  
I've come around, come around_

'_Cause I've found_

She went over the oven and slid in her baking sheets. But just before she closed the oven, she gave her butt a nice little shake.

_Living just to keep going  
Going just be stay sane  
All the while never knowing  
It's such a shame_

I don't need to get steady  
I know just how I feel  
I'm telling you to be ready  
My dear

She finished off the song by swaying hips all the way down, until she was in a squat position, then swaying them all the way back up. The song finished and another started, but she was already putting stuff away and then made her way into what he figured was the bathroom; and out of sight.

"That was so hot." Whispered Hardison, as though not to break the trance they'd been under. Parker huffed and slapped his shoulder, hard. Eliot just turned his face to watch them and tried to get himself under control.

"What was that for!" He complained as he rubbed his shoulder.

Parker just stomped her foot and walked away. Hardison ran after her, apologizing quickly to the thief. Eliot just looked back to the apartment and to his teammates that were making their way towards the door that would lead them down and out.

In the other building, Charlie closed the bathroom door and leaned back against it, her hands coming to her cheeks to cover the blush. _Can't believe I just did that! _Charlie had felt them the moment they reached the rooftops. Being in the comfort of her own home, her shields were down. Not to mention the fact that two distinct minds thinking about her at the exact same time, was the equivalent of a scream in her head. When she realized who it was she relaxed slightly. An occasional thought would reach her, and soon she realized that Eliot was up on the rooftop as well. _What could they all be wanting?_ After her earlier confession to her sister, she had decided to not think about the man anymore, but here he was; spying on her. She continued her chores and pretended that he wasn't there but, after the apartment was accommodated to her taste they were still there! Charlie hoped they had had their fun, because now it was her turn. That little dance was all for Eliot as far as she was concerned. The man confused her to no end, but that didn't mean she couldn't have some fun with him. She might not have been able to read his mind, but she was aware that Hardison was completely entranced and since the thoughts seemed to focus on her solely, she figured that Eliot enjoyed the show just as much as Hardison did. She smiled softly at how mad Parker was at Hardison._ That should be an interesting relationship_! Letting out a laugh she started to get ready for her shower, mentally preparing herself for the next day.


End file.
